Linde to supply hydrogen to CITGO’s Illinois oil refinery

New plant to supply hydrogen for ultra-low sulfur diesel production

MURRAY HILL, NEW JERSEY, U.S. – Linde has executed a new long term contract with PdV Midwest Refining LLC to supply hydrogen to the company’s CITGO Lemont, Illinois, oil refinery. The hydrogen will be produced by a new plant that Linde is building for CITGO’s production of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.

The plant, which is expected to begin operating in 2010, is being engineered, built and installed by Linde Process Plants, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based subsidiary of Linde Engineering, a division of The Linde Group and one of the world’s largest producers of hydrogen and hydrogen plants.

Kent Masters, member of the Linde Group Executive Board said, “We are excited to expand our relationship with CITGO and its parent company, PdVSA by providing a highly reliable, flexible and cost-effective hydrogen supply solution.”

Site construction has already commenced for the 45 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) hydrogen plant, which Linde will own and operate under a long-term supply contract.

Linde has been providing hydrogen to CITGO for clean fuels production at the Lemont site from a 15 mmscfd plant that began operating in 2003. In addition to hydrogen, Linde supplies the refinery with other industrial gases such as nitrogen and oxygen.

“Adding this plant strengthens Linde’s presence and expertise in the upper U.S. Midwest, where we already have a strong hydrogen and atmospheric gases supply capability,” Masters said.

Linde owns and operates state-of-the-art hydrogen plants and supporting infrastructure in Toledo and Lima, Ohio, supplying BP, Sunoco and Husky refineries and other chemical manufacturers. In addition, Linde also owns and operates over 40 other plants in the region to supply customers with oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide.

CITGO is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products; with an oil refining capacity of approximately 750,000 barrels per day. CITGO is a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of PDV Holding, Inc. CITGO’s ultimate parent is Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, and CITGO’s largest supplier of crude oil.

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 52,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2008 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services.